1997 Pontiac Trans Am
Project Photos and Installation Guides

SPEC Stage 4 Clutch and SLP Steel Flywheel Install

The SPEC Stage IV clutch sitting on top of the SLP flywheel
just after it was received. The clutch alignment tool is seen
in the background with the pilot bearing that SPEC provides on
it. Also included is the SPEC (LT4) throwout bearing.

The SPEC pressure plate and SPEC Stage IV carbon clutch
disc sitting on the flywheel and on the pressure plate.

The SLP lightweight steel flywheel weighs ~14lbs, which
is 7lbs lighter than stock. It is of noticeably different design
than the stock flywheel.

The car must first be raised up on 4 jackstands. Two under
the axle and two on the front frame is the best configuration.
The car only needs to be high enough that the transmission can
be rolled out from under the car if you wish to clean it or give
yourself more room to work on the bellhousing. Next the center
shifter console needs to be taken apart and the shifter removed.
Do not forget to leave the shifter in neutral so that it is easier
to line up the transmission later.

Remove the torque arm by removing the two long bolts through
the rear differential housing and sliding the torque arm out
of its front mount by the transmission. Remove the torque arm
mount from the transmission to make more room to get to other
bolts. Remove the driveshaft by unbolting the four bolts on the
rear universal joint. You may want to leave it in the transmission
to keep fluid from leaking until you are ready to fully remove
the transmission.

With the torque arm and driveshaft removed, the transmission
tunnel area is very roomy, and there is plenty of room to get
to the top transmission bolts with a 2-3 foot extension. Once
the transmission is supported by the jack, remove the transmission
mounting crossmember.

Not pictured: Remove the slave cylinder
by removing the two nuts and then sliding it off of the two studs.
Then remove the aluminum spacer/cover. The clutch fork can then
be disengaged by placing your thumb into the round depression
and pulling outwards from the input shaft. It should come easily,
or you can use a flathead screwdriver to get a bit more leverage.

Once all 8 15mm (or SAE equivalent) transmission bolts are
removed (start with the top 4) the transmission should be moved
back slightly. If it is stuck, check that the clutch fork is
disengaged completely, and that all 8 bolts are in fact removed.
It must come out very straight initially.

The transmission is shown here moved back about an inch
or two from the bellhousing. It helps to stabilize it if it is
strapped down to the jack. It may be neccesary to raise or lower
it to clear your exhaust and to make sure that the top of the
transmission clears the tunnel.

You can see the transmission resting on the ground free
of its jack. It weighs a lot so be careful not to pinch any fingers
when removing it from the jack. The new parts are shown here
waiting to go in.

The factory clutch is shown here with and then without the
bellhousing. The bellhousing has 6 15mm (or SAE equivalent) bolts
holding it to the block. One of these requires a wrench to remove
it. Ratcheting box end wrenches are a definite advantage here.
The inspection/dust cover must be removed by removing the two
bolts that hold it to the back of the bellhousing. The bellhousing
should slide right off of its guide dowels.

The pressure plate can now be removed. Use something to
keep the motor from turning. (We used a prybar stuck through
the crank pulley) You will then be able to access the stock flywheel.
Mine was heat spotted pretty badly. You can see the removed bellhousing
and the clutch disc and pressure plate here.

The stock clutch disc.

The stock pressure plate was also heat spotted badly. The
stock clutch disc was down to the rivets in some spots and was
definitely grooving the pressure plate and flywheel badly.

The motor completely free of bellhousing and flywheel. You
can see the pilot bearing in the rear of the crank. We tried
to use a pilot bearing puller with a slide hammer but the puller
broke, so we used the wet toilet paper trick instead.

Use a 3/8" extension and fill the pilot bearing with very wet
toilet paper. Compact it with the extension and a hammer. It will seem as
if you cannot put any more in, but keep putting more paper in. Eventually the
pilot bearing will start to move.

The pilot bearing removed and the remnants of the toilet paper in
the crank. It actually came out in one or two pieces since it was so compacted. You
can now install a new pilot bearing using a large socket and an extension and a hammer.

Note the orientation of the pilot bearing you removed and duplicate it.

The new flywheel is installed and torqued down. Then the clutch disc is
installed using the clutch alignment tool. Then put the pressure plate on with the alignment
tool still installed and finger thread a couple bolts. Then install all the bolts and torque
them to spec in a star pattern. The alignment tool may be difficult to remove at this point but
it should come out with a little effort.

The cleaned bellhousing is reattached and torqued down.

For some reason, my setup caused the clutch fork to rub against the pressure
plate. This is the damage that it caused. When the motor was started, it would run fine, but
when the clutch pedal was depressed to the floor, a terrible noise was heard. Also, while the
car was not running, a funny clicking was felt near the bottom of the travel. This was fixed
without completely removing the transmission. It was slid back about 6 inches and the clutch fork
was unbolted and removed from the transmission.

Here is the clutch fork and its "T mount". You can see where the pressure
plate rubbed on the rear of the fork. This was solved by grinding down the area where it was
rubbing, and also taking a paper thin bit of material off of the transmission side of the "T
mount."